Abortion and Media Bias: When the Majority Doesn't Rule

Abortion and Media Bias: When the Majority Doesn't Rule

Ben Domenech of Real Clear Politics begins a great article by writing, “Obviously the overall story about how Americans view the right to marriage is one of ever-increasing majorities. From just a few years ago, when Americans were split on the issue at best, they now have marked majorities in favor of same-sex marriage — 71 percent according to some polls, 86 percent according to others. The argument has been won, and cultural unanimity is virtually complete.”

Then Domenech reveals his sleight of hand by saying, “Oh, my mistake. It’s actually around half of Americans who favor gay marriage.” The figures Domenech cited are actually related to the percentage of Americans “who support banning abortion after the first trimester (13 weeks), and after the second trimester (28 weeks), respectively.”

Let me repeat that … more than 70 percent of Americans oppose abortion after the first trimester. If your only news is from the mainstream media, you’d never know this. Instead, we continue to hear that Americans are split down the middle on abortion, even though we really aren’t.

Take the media bias in the case of the abortion-rights celebrity du jour, Texas legislator Wendy Davis. Domenech points out that for the last two decades, most Americans have supported a ban on second and third trimester abortions. Yet when Wendy Davis and hordes of pro-abortion supporters shut down the debate over some reasonable abortion restrictions in the Lone Star State — such as a ban after 20 weeks of gestation, which is supported by 62 percent of the voters in Texas — they were hailed as heroes, not as an angry roadblock to progress.

That’s not journalism — it’s rank advocacy. And when Davis’s supporters answered pro-lifers who were peacefully singing “Amazing Grace” by mockingly chanting “Hail, Satan” — I’m not making that up — somehow these same “reporters” decided this wasn’t front-page news.

When it comes to abortion, we can now say the so-called mainstream media isn’t actually mainstream after all.

So thanks to Domenech for bringing this continuing media bias to our attention, and to the folks at the Manhattan Declaration, which brought his article to my attention.

The Manhattan Declaration, of course, was a strategic project of our friends Robert George, Timothy George, and the late Chuck Colson, to call Christians to stand on three critical issues: the dignity of human life, the sanctity of marriage, and religious liberty.

We obviously won’t get clarity, much less help, on these issues from the Fourth Estate, which has clearly taken sides, using its power and influence to denigrate unborn life, redefine marriage, and flatly ignore the growing number of attacks on religious liberty.

That’s not good news for our republic, which requires that our press be free and unbiased.

That’s why I devoutly — and I use the term advisedly — hope you will go to the Manhattan Declaration website, read the statement carefully and prayerfully, and then put your name to it and spread the word to your friends and neighbors — knocking on doors, writing letters, posting on Facebook and Twitter, however you usually communicate with others.

When the Supreme Court delivered its hideous ruling in Roe v. Wade 40 years ago, many on the pro-abortion side thought the debate was over. History has proved them wrong. Since then, medical technology allows us to see the beautiful face of human life in the womb. And a sad and bloody history of abuse has shown us the true nature of the abortion industry.

So it’s no wonder then that more and more Americans want to restrict abortion — and we cannot allow the media to hide this, because it’s a strong step to ending it altogether.

BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life. Begun by Chuck Colson in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today’s news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print. Today BreakPoint commentaries, co-hosted by Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet, air daily on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people. Feel free to contact us at BreakPoint.org where you can read and search answers to common questions.

John Stonestreet, the host of The Point, a daily national radio program, provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.